DESPITE the Open Championship featuring on television, a large field of Worcestershire Golf Club golfers entered The Professional's Cup last Saturday.

With the recent exceptional spell of good weather, the course was very firm and the ball seemed to run and run forever on the fairways.

The standard of play, in all three divisions, was of a very high order and the first six players in each section all played par or better golf.

The highlight of the day was the form of club captain Simon Tinkler who, despite the burdens of high office, continues to play exceptional golf.

He returned the best score of the day, a net 66, to win Division One and with it The Professional's Cup. Neil Devery returned a 68, to be placed fourth with Dave Farrell third with a 67. Dave Harding also returned a 67 to achieve second place.

In Division Two, John MacFarlane was placed fourth with a 71. That was one shot worse than Paul Meakin who came third.

Former secretary/manager, Roger Blackwell, returned the very creditable score of 67 to be placed second with David Walsh winning the division with the same score.

Only one stroke separate the first three players in Division Three. Barry Williams, scoring a 69, was third, with Jerry Hibbert's 68 gaining second place. The Division Three winner, with a net 67, was Jim Wilde.

Scoring continued to be exceptional in The Stan McCabe Stableford Trophy, with the first ten pairs scoring 45 points or better. Four pairs all scored 46 points but the committee placed Jamie Dunster and Sam Kenward fourth. Brian Davies, playing with Ian Broom, scored 47 points to achieve third place.

On a normal day, the score of 48 points would have been sufficient for Trevor Southall and Gordon Jones to win the trophy but Trevor and Gordon had to be content with second place. The winners of the trophy, who also scored 48 points, however were Larry Long playing with Roy Cale.

In the combined A and B team match against The Vale Golf Club, there were wins for Tinkler, playing with Tony Rogers, Terry Lloyd, partnered by Roger, and Andrew Boyd playing with Ray Cale.

With Steve Bradshaw and John Hennessey halving their match, The Worcestershire won the fixture by three-and-a-half matches to two- and-a-half.

Despite wins by Tinkler, playing with Brian Coleman, and Andy Davis, playing with Ray Cale, The Worcestershire B Team lost their home fixture against Ross by two- and-a-half games to three-and-a half.

High scoring continued in the Ladies' Hollins Cup and it was interesting to note that four former lady captains and a club director occupied the first five positions. Three players scored 40 points and could only be separated on the count back system.

Eileen Hunt was placed fifth; Jean Coleman came fourth and club director Ann Goode secured third place.

Doreen Hunt returned the very good score of 42 points to achieve second place.

On the day, however, no lady could compete with the excellent form of Janet Clowrey. She returned the excellent Stableford score of 45 points to win The Hollins Cup by three clear points.